Vigilance and Tranquility, Honesty and awareness

Month: April 2007

A nice drill to learn to move better in space and with people. With three people at least have one or more simply walk towards you all the time and you have to get out of the way in time and to have one partner with you by putting your arm over his shoulder or push and pull in any way that works. the VIP moves only when moved and doesn’t ressist so it is another way to learn to work within a crowd that is not aware of you. You have to keep the VIP from crashing into others as well of course.
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Sometimes we get to involved with one part and forget the rest. For example if you roll with your hands cuffed behind your back and you move your shoulder preparing for the roll you may forget the neck and the rest of you and get bumped or more. Remember to be aware of all your parts and than you will be able to use them. Another example is when you are being chocked on the ground or standing up and many start to strugle with the upper body forgeting their legs frozen. You have to be aware of yourself to move properly. You have to study this well.
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To defend yourself and others you need to move constantly and to learn to do this within your balance start with these simple drills. Start with a chair or a standing partner and you facing one way. Now start to walk aroung the chair/partner using the least amount of steps while all the time facing the same direction. Do this for both directions and if you can have a person swing a staff at you so you have to do this and keep yourself safe from the swing as well. After that have a stomping game with your friends as you all have to step on someones feet but not get stepped on yourself (keep your alignment and head looking straight or up so you see more and let your awareness grow). After that return to the getting out of the way drill as one or more people walk towards you and you have to get out of the way and at all times remember to let the breath lead your movement and to keep your alignment. It is ok to stumble but if you loose your relaxation you will be caught and perhaps not rise again.

Another drill for this purpose is to do the same as one person is one the floor on his behind, knees or back and people try to step on him and he has to keep moving to get out of the way and keep himself mobile and free. After that do the same in the low squat which builds your endurance and forces you to breathe well (otherwise you collapse)

Sequence of learning awareness: on the floor, squat, standing, standing and stepping on you, standing with a mission (the circle around the person/chair) and avoiding.

Work with a friend on any drill and focus this time on observing his choices and movement to check how you can help him better himself. Before you speak out note how do you go through the things that you saw on another and after you put this to action on yourself see if what you wanted to say is different. Many times we look for something that is missing or lacking in ourselves and want to see the same or better on others. This is a good drill to check for your blind spots and to improve together.

Another drill. Sit on your behind and have a partner lie flat on the floor in front of you. Balance on your hands and place your feet on your partner and start to move in this way as you roll your partner with your feet (forward and backwards) and only the hands touch the ground. Do the same drill with you in the push up position (body aligned with feet on the partner) and remeber the purpose of the drill is more than the movement itself. This teaches you to relax as you give support to another and to take it away with other parts of the body. You learn to find the right spots to move the body by relaxing because you do not have any support to pactice brute force shoves. The drill is just a drill, what you take from it other than the joy of movement is the key to your freedom.

One way to learn how to slap is to roll freely. You don’t create a form and hope that it will match the ground or the body. You are aware and free to move to match the ground. The same goes for open hand strikes (from any angle front side and back) for example start by loosening your wrists and shaking the hands so you feel the blood flow in them and the pulse in the forearm. Now slowly make contact using your wrist and let the palm and fingers wrap around the flesh or anything you are using. Move slowly and do not forcefully apply pressure. This will create tension in the hand and you will get the force of the slap back. With a partner or on yourself practice this and as you feel comfortable speed up and down to match the level of force you want to generate. A slap can take the wind of someone without doing too much hdamage (sides where the lung muscles are, lower back of the neck, the small of the back and so on) and more importantly it is not considered an attack on the level of a fist to most audiences. Remember where you are at all times and make your choices.
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To learn to walk upright and with freedom to change your direction at all times you can do many things. Start by standing freely and place your balms on the small of the back on the connection between the back and legs. Now relax and flatten the curve between them so your hips are relaxed in position. Play with this changeing the angle and tensing up and than relaxing letting the hips find the right spot by itself. At the same time the shoulders are relaxing in connection to the hips and once the hips are relaxedstart to move the shoulders up and down and in any direction. Tense and relax all the time minding to breathe and to listen to the heart beats in the tensed locations. After this Do the same for the head and than for the knees and ankles. This is standing up. Now Take ten breaths to move one leg relaxed like a whip in a forward arch and let in in ten more breaths to take the shape of the ground you are on (barefoot is best here) and ten more breaths to shift the mass forward. A good idea is to think of ice skating as you do this. If you can focus your mind on the purpose of this drill for thirty steps than you have done something. And don’t forget to enjoy yourself.

Another drill that can be used with this drill is to walk paralel to a wall and note if you sway and tilt without being aware of this and once you are aware of it just breathe and note what is causing it by slowing down your movement and letting it reveal the imbalance for you.

A simple drill to learn to hit from a tight spot is to have a partner or two hold you in a lock/lever or put their weight on you and than hit with the purpose of gaining mobility. If you will hit to cause pain or to get back with the person who has his knee on your neck you are supporting his structure mentally and it will not help you a lot. Think of yourself and hit to gain mobility. You may enen choose to hit to get the person more on top of you or deeper into the lever but from the movement you will gain mobility and the will to keep breathing and that is a positive thing. See what is in front of you and feel it (darkness, or someone is on top of you) and use what you have at the moment. A plan means you are trying to get reality to do what you want. Instead work with what you are given and you will have more.
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It is simple that if we see an angry face or a happy face we will feel more angry or happy ourselves. The same goes for relaxation and tension and for breathing. For example if you stand close to someone and for a moment clench your throat and tense up he will do the same and on the release of this tension wave you can do a lot from running away to making him think of himself and not on you with a good strike. Try with a partner who is trying to choke or put his arms around you in some way to tense up (move your limbs, chest and torso to take up more space) and relax and you will probably find a way out of the now loosened grip. To relax a friend or someone who thinks you are his problem keep your breathing calm and your face relaxed. It will be harder for him to become more tense and commited in a relaxed enviroment and if you choose to attack you will have all the energy you need and no stance to break from. One way out of many to keep your body relaxed is to time your breath with the pulse in an area like the feet of the throat. Both are mirrors to the main tension places of the chest and hips (depending on the person) and using this the body will have much more ability and awareness. Two beats in and two beats out as you leave enough space for the stop between them and you will be always relaxed. Play with the drill to see how it suits you and remember that if you wish harm on someone you are forgetting yourself in his favor and lowering your chances of meeting your kids one day.
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Place your hands on your hips or in any way you feel relaxed and lift one foot off the ground so it hovers very low without getting any suport from the ground. Now move with your body without moving the supporting leg off the ground or changing the angle or hight of the hovering leg. For example turn your entire body as if you are trying to look over your shoudlder and than come back. Now turn inward and outward and play with this so you can always place the foot without having to compensate with the body as you shift the mass to the leg you are planting. Many people raise their legs and place them forward leaving the body in the same state throughout the movement and only once the foot starts to support you you feel the tension you created and move to correct your alignment. Do this drill for both legs and teach yourself to move as a whole without creating tension in your torso and head. Remember that there are other people who give you tension enough for your relaxation practice and leave it to them. Another thing is to make adjustments to your drills after you went through them a few times to suit you best. The instructor is human like you and I make mistakes all the time. I don’t stop moving though and that I believe is the way.
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Clothes are great tools for grabbing, blinding and hitting. For example you can grab the belt of a person and fall on your behind and he will follow swiftly. you can choke using the jacket or shirt simply by wraping your fingers (start to roll the fingers in from the tips toward the palm just like a baby holding unto a finger and the hold will be much safer and stronger and can be used to create a lot of pain on the flesh of the sides…) around the colar and turning your body in a circle. Another way is to blind a person by hiking the shirt over the head or throwing your jacket over their heads. you can use the loose sides of the pants to lever the person on top of you down or anywhere it suits you and so on. Another thing that can be done with the clothes for your protection is to take the belt out and wrap it around your wrist a few times leaving about 60 cm and the buckle loose and using it as a whip. It is a great way to defend yourself without risking contact with for example a broken bottle. Never stop to breath move and think and the order doesn’t matter.
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